BlockBefore

DeKalb, Illinois

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1985. It stands in DeKalb Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60115. The Survey maps it on the DeKalb quadrangle. 40,290 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 879 feet above sea level.

DeKalb within DeKalb County

On record in DeKalb

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

DeKalb grew from 39,018 to 40,290 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
200039,018
201043,862+4,844 (+12%)
202040,290-3,572 (-8%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 10 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

5,161 words on this township

Past and Present of DeKalb County, Illinois, published 1907 names this settlement in its chapter on DeKalb Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

By way of explanation we will state thai the timber land of DeKalb township naturally divided itself into three parts. 'Flic South Grove, or Huntley's Grove, was separated from the Central Grove, later called Union Grove, by a gap extending east and west over the present site of the Norma] bridge. Another gap was found on the land owned by Phineas Stevens and extending westward, and for a long time these settlements were known by the names Huntley's Grove, Union Grove and Coltonville. The latter became the more populous settlement and had a village that was aspiring to be the county seat and in fact the first court, held in the county after its organization was held at that place.

Passage source: Past and Present of DeKalb County, Illinois, published 1907.

In the summer of 1836, the first election held in the county was at the home of Captain Eli Barnes, on land now owned by Henry Groves. Voters came from all parts of the county- It was an election for justice of the peace and we must remember at this time that the available settlements of what is now DeKalb county were known as the Kishwaukee district and were a part of La Salle count}''. Stephen Mowry and Captain Collier were elected justices and received their commission from the governor, countersigned by a county officer from La Salle county. Mr. Samuel Miller of Squaw Grove, relates that ten dollars was sent down to him by one of the candidates to pay him for bringing up ten voters and that these voti re carried his election. Mr. Boies says, in his history, that this was probably the first $10 spent to cany an election in this county, but not the last by thousands.

Passage source: Past and Present of DeKalb County, Illinois, published 1907.

Hard times followed the period of wild-cat money and the people grew very poor and in 1843, when the land that has just been described came into market, Mr. Huntley offered large portions of it for $1.25 an acre. Some of this land is where the city of DeKalb now stands. For twenty years he kept an excellent tavern, built of logs, and in busy seasons of travel it was continually crowded by teamsters who came from as far west as the Mississippi river and were on their way to Chieago with grain. A good picture of this hotel will be found in another portion of the work. As it did not pay at all times to haul the grain to Chicago, thousands of bushels of wheat were fed to cattle without threshing. The people of this locality did not thrive materially until the railroad was built in 1853.

Passage source: Past and Present of DeKalb County, Illinois, published 1907.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on DeKalb Township - it names this place 25 more 25 times.

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of DeKalb: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Vermiculite, Perlite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Mica Pellets Inc. PlantPerlite, VermiculiteProducer
Mica Pellets Inc. Vermiculite PlantVermiculiteProducer

Every working recorded in DeKalb County

Storms near this place

26 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names DeKalb in 26 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 15 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2025Thunderstorm WindDekalb-Several photos relayed on social media showed tree damage in and around DeKalb. A one foot diameter tree was snapped midway up the trunk. Live web cameras at the time the storm moved through showed considerable blowing dust as well as several gustnadoes.
August 2025Flash FloodDekalb-A report of flooding was received from the northwest side of DeKalb via mPing.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindDekalb-A softwood tree was uprooted and an 8 to 12 inch diameter limb was snapped in the vicinity of Greenbrier Rd in DeKalb.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindDekalb-A reasonably healthy 12 inch diameter tree was blown down just south of 1st Street and Bethany Road.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindDekalb-An approximately 8 inch diameter tree was uprooted in DeKalb.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindDekalb-Numerous tree branches were down on the 1700 block of N 1st St. A tall tree had also snapped and another tree had fallen onto a house in the area.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindDekalb-Numerous trees and tree limbs were blown down between 1st Street and the railroad tracks, just north of Taylor Street.
March 2023Thunderstorm WindDekalb-A handheld anemometer measured a 74 mph gust. Tree damage and minor roof damage were also reported.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindDekalb-A couple of tree limbs about 3 to 6 inches in diameter were blown down near the Northern Illinois University coop station.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindDekalb-A large tree limb was blown down on the campus of Northern Illinois University.
August 2022Flash FloodDekalb-Multiple reports of street flooding were received from Sycamore and DeKalb.
August 2022FloodDekalb-Video shared on social media showed water over a roadway in downtown DeKalb. Several roads were covered by flood waters of varying depths. The DeKalb Airport measured 1.42 inches of rain in one hour. A spotter 3 miles northeast of DeKalb measured a storm total of 3.30 inches of rain.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindDekalb-A photo shared on social media showed a tree snapped near its base near Northern Illinois University.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindDekalb-A photo shared on social media showed multiple tree limbs up to 8 inches in diameter blown down near Hillcrest Drive and Blackhawk Road.
November 2020Thunderstorm WindDekalb-Multiple utility poles and power lines were blown down in the 1400 block of 4th Street.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindDekalb-A wind gust to 64 mph was measured at the De Kalb Airport (KDKB). Tree limbs were blown down in De Kalb.
August 2015HailDekalb-There were multiple reports of quarter to golf ball size hail in and around De Kalb. Golf ball size hail fell at 1st Street and Taylor. Half dollar size hail fell near Annie Glidden Road.
April 2026HailDekalb-no account filed
April 2026HailDekalb-no account filed
April 2026HailDekalb-no account filed
April 2026HailDekalb-no account filed
April 2023Thunderstorm WindDekalb-no account filed
April 2019HailDekalb-no account filed
June 2014HailDekalb-no account filed
June 1996Thunderstorm WindDekalb-no account filed
April 1996HailDekalb-no account filed

Every storm recorded in DeKalb County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Cortland3.3 miles9
Elva4.7 miles10
Five Points5.1 miles13
Sycamore5.3 miles9
Wilkinson5.6 miles13
Afton Center5.7 miles10
Malta5.9 miles10
Clare7.3 miles13

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on DeKalbAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q580478The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 421762. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.